The idea of rights (and the subsequent usage of those rights) has become a significant issue in the world of comic book heroes over the years. Companies like Disney and Warner Bros. have gone to great lengths to ensure that properties like Superman, Batman, and Captain America never enter the public domain, as that would give anyone the right to use these images and the worlds that they conjure. That’s ultimately why we can have several films, and TV shows debut every year featuring a character like Sherlock Holmes (who very much exists in public domain), while we can only get the Batman movies made by the folks at Warner Bros. and DC Comics.

The idea of rights (and the subsequent usage of those rights) has become a significant issue in the world of comic book heroes over the years. Companies like Disney and Warner Bros. have gone to great lengths to ensure that properties like Superman, Batman, and Captain America never enter the public domain, as that would give anyone the right to use these images and the worlds that they conjure. That’s ultimately why we can have several films, and TV shows debut every year featuring a character like Sherlock Holmes (who very much exists in public domain), while we can only get the Batman movies made by the folks at Warner Bros. and DC Comics.